Soft Hearts & Hard Times
by everfaraway
Summary: Follows my last Swat Kat fic.  More of Jake's past revealed & a few clues into Chances.  Plus a couple of she-kats meet & possibly join the swat kat's ranks.  Slash  malexmale & femalexfemale   Abuse, rape, etc... mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

Gentle Hearts

**_Author: I'm back! And I return with a second Swat Kat fic. I don't own Megakat City, Jake or Chance. I just wish I owned  
those two amazingly hot toms. But I do own Selena, Riza, Jake's dad (mentioned) & Riza's dad. Hopefully this will be  
Beta'd for me by Ulyferal who beta'd my other Swat Kat fic. Slash & nude toms. Riza is pronounced: Rez (z like in zipper)-uh_**

The rain beat down around the she-kat as she walked down the streets and she was never more grateful for her umbrella. It was just after dark in Megakat city but she carried no worries because her claws were sharp, instincts were keen and she was quick as a whip crack. It was those instincts that told her something was wrong before she heard the crash in the alley behind her. She spun towards the alley, dropping her umbrella, unsheathing her claws and hissed loudly. Her fur puffed out to where she looked almost twice her normal size and her tail stood straight up. A soft groan drifted from the alley which made her fur drop and claws sheath. The groan was a sound she knew all too well: one of a pained, frightened or upset kat. Slowly she picked up her umbrella and stepped into the alley.

Laying on the ground, curled up in a ball, was a she-kat. Her fur was dirty and she smelled of blood. "Poor thing, are you alright?" she whispered, kneeling down. The she-kat's eyes snapped open and she took a swipe at the other. "Easy." she said.

"What do you want?" the dirty kat asked.

"To help you." she said. The other she-kat rose to all fours which allowed her to see that she had a heavier built and several cuts on her. "Listen, I live nearby with my dad. If you'll let me I can take you there and you can get cleaned up." she told her. The heavier kat forced herself to her feet and stumbled. The smaller she-kat grabbed her and said, "That's you're coming home with me. Got a name?"

"Selena." she whispered.

"Dad I'm home." the she-kat called softly. An exotic looking tom stepped into the hall.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Selena, I found her in an alley on the way home. She's hurt."

The tom shook his head and said, "You have a kind heart Riza and many would try to take advantage of that."

"You taught me to help people, how to tell when people mean me harm and you also taught me how to defend myself." she reminded him.

"Yes I did. But I still fear for your safety kitten." he whispered.

Riza smiled and said, "Help me get her upstairs so I can clean her up." Her father slid an arm gently around the unconscious she-kat's waist and helped his daughter take her to her room.

Jake glanced sleepily over at the clock that read roughly 9am and cocked an ear. The storm that had started the afternoon before was still raging.

"You okay?" a deep voice purred in his ear.

"Yeah." he muttered, rolling onto his back. His long time friend and mate, Chance, rubbed his cheek against his shoulder. Instinctively their tails intertwined and Jake rolled over to bury himself in Chance's chest.

"Sure you're alright?" his lover asked.

"I just didn't sleep well." Jake said.

"Are you still having nightmares? Chance muttered.

"Sometimes but not too often." he admitted.

Chance scratched one of his mate's ears and asked, "Wanna go watch some cartoons?" Jake laughed and got up.

"Need to shower first, I'm sticky." he said. Chance purred loudly as his mate left for the bathroom. Jake glanced back and called, "Come on, we won't both be able to watch Scaredy-Kat if one of us is in the shower." The bigger tom got up and followed him into the shower.

Jake hissed as Chance nipped his shoulder. "Can't leave me alone to can ya?" he teased.

"Yeah I can." his mate laughed. The russet tom smiled and crouched to turn on the water while Chance settled on the toilet seat. "Isn't today the day we go visit your dad?" the ginger tom asked.

"Yeah." Jake said.

Chance hesitated a few minutes before asking, "What's he like?"

"He's pretty decent, a little odd but he's really nice. Why?" the cinnamon tom asked his mate.

"I don't know I guess I'm just a little... worried." he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Jake turned to look at him before getting up.

"You're scared of meeting him." he said, making it more of a statement and less of a question. Chance nodded meekly. "He's not gonna turn you away or disown me because we're together. He was extremely happy for me when I told him I had finally found my mate, even if I had been living with him for the past several years." he whispered, running his paw through the ginger tom's hair.

"My parents would freak out if they found out." the big tom whispered.

"Come on let's get cleaned up." Jake told him, pulling his mate up and into the shower.

Chance tilted his head back into the hot water. "Stand still." Jake whispered in his ear and the ginger tom nodded. The cinnamon tom ran his claws gently through his mates fur to untangle any of it that might be clumped together. He envied the bigger tom for his thick heavy coat and often joked that he'd gladly trade his own thinner coat for it. "You've got oil or something in your fur." he muttered, picking at a patch of fur on his mate's arm.

"Probably from the Turbo Kat." Chance admitted. Jake shook his head and grabbed the shampoo. One thing both toms loved more than flying together was showering together because they were guaranteed a very thorough cleaning. Jake worked a rich lather into Chance's fur, making sure to get every inch of him from ears to paws. He ran his claws gently down his mate's chest before working his way to his hips. "I thought you said I was the one who couldn't leave you alone, not the other way around." the ginger tom laughed. Jake purred deep in his throat as he pressed against the bigger kat. "You're never sated." Chance teased. Jake laughed as he began to alternate scrubbing and running his claws through the fur on his mate's thighs to get rid of the sticky film there.

"Hang out under the water." the slender tom told him after several minutes.

Chance tilted his head back to let the water rinse the shampoo for his fur. Unsheathing his claws he ran them through the fur on his arm, checking for any oil that might be left there. "Clean?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, thanks love." he said. The smaller tom smiled and handed his lover another bottle of shampoo. The ginger kat poured some into his paws and began to work it into Jake's thinner coat. A small shudder ran through his heavy frame when his paw brushed one of the many scars on his slender mates body.

"Chance?" the smaller tom asked.

"Sorry I'm just not used to feeling all these scars on you." he muttered.

"You've got some scars too love." Jake reminded him.

"I know." Chance whispered.


	2. Family

Family

**_Author: Hello all my fellow SWAT Kat lovers! I'm so sorry it's taken me so, so long to update. I caught a few  
episodes on cable over the past few weeks & decided to write up another chapter. Just in time for thanksgiving too.  
I own Marco & Riza Ocelotte. Along with Alexia, Camille & the rest of the Clawson family (except for Jake). Slash &  
mentions of rape, abuse, etc... Marco & Riza are based on the Ocelot breed of small wildcat who live in South America._**

Jake parked his car in front of his father's house & climbed out, leaning against the car door to wait for his mate.

Chance followed suite & starred at the house. It wasn't a mansion by any means, maybe three or four bedrooms at the most but it still looked expensive. The two sides of the brick house he had seen were covered in ivy. Instead of grass, the front yard was smooth white stones & there was a pond halfway between the house & the street. "Jake..." he whispered, suddenly very unsure about meeting his mate's father.

"Dad's not rich... not really at least. The house was covered in ivy like this when he bought it. He had the pond put in before I met him. The yard... well, that's actually new." Jake assured him, shutting the door & locking the car.

"You said he's not really rich?" Chance asked, letting himself be guided up the driveway.

"His family has money but he never touches it unless what he has doesn't make ends meet." the russet tom told him gently.

"What's he do?" the larger tom asked.

"He's an author." Jake smiled, opening the front door. "Dad? Are you home?"

Chance stared in surprise as a tall, sleek tom appeared behind Jake. "Welcome to my home. I'm Marco Ocelotte. Please, come in & sit down." the tom said, motioning towards what Chance assumed was the living room. Marco's coat was cream colored with dark brown facial markings & black bands all the way down his tail. He wore a loose fitting pair of slacks & a button down long sleeve shirt both in a dark blue that almost matched his eyes. "Riza! Come downstairs!" he called up the staircase.

"In a minute!" a soft female voice called back.

Jake's tail twitched as he sat down on his father's couch & pulled Chance down beside him. The couch was soft dark brown leather that smelled of cinnamon, sandalwood & something spicy Jake could never identify. "How's Riza been?" he asked his father.

"Riza is Riza. Always in somesort of trouble." Marco chuckled.

Chance's ears twitched slightly. At first he thought Marco was straight laced & formal but now... he seemed a bit more easy going.

"I am not!" A young she-kat appeared in the doorway. She had the same cream coat as her father except that all of her marking were ink black & her eyes were deep gold. She wore a long hunter green dress & had her long black hair in a braid. It seemed like Jake hadn't inherited any of his father's looks where his sister had.

"I think dad begs to differ." Jake teased.

Riza glared at Jake & made a soft chirping sound at him. Jake's ears twitched as he purred back at her & his tail curled around Chance's leg.

"Riza, sit down & meet your brother's mate." Marco said.

"Chance this is my half sister Riza. Riza this is my mate Chance Furlong." Jake said as Riza stepped around the couch. She watched him carefully as she settled down on the foot rest near her father.

"Nice to meet you." Riza said, smoothing out her dress.

"Did I..." Chance began, looking at Jake.

"Riza is really shy with strangers... just give her time to get used to you." Marco told him.

"It was more or less the same when we first met." Jake added.

"You two have different moms I guess." Chance asked. He knew from experience that just because a kat called a tom "Dad" that it didn't always mean that was their biological father. Better to play it safe then assume anything.

"Yes... thank goodness. That she-kat..." Riza hissed as her fur puffed up & her claws unsheathed. Jake's ears slid back as the conversation took a drastic turn.

"Riza." Marco said warningly.

"Just because you loved her once doesn't make anything she did to Jacob okay dad." Riza hissed over her shoulder.

"I'm aware of that Riza. Jacob please take your sister outside to calm down." Marco said sharply as his ears slid back & his claws unsheathed.

Jake got up to his feet & gently grabbed Riza's arm. "Come on." he hissed, steering her towards the door. Chance turned his gaze to the floor, not sure if he should go with his mate or not.

"I'm sorry... Riza is very protective of Jake. I'm assuming you know about his mother." Marco sighed after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah... I know about her. I've seen the scars she left on Jake." Chance said, keeping his claws sheathed even though he itched to use them on Jake's mother.

"When I met Alexia, she wasn't disturbed. I'm not entirely sure what happened to change her but I can't forgive myself for all she did to Jake. Or not being there to stop it." Marco admitted softly as his tail curled around the leg of his chair.

Chance's tail twitched & he asked, "From the way Jake made it sound, you weren't around. How come?"

Marco eyed the tom who was his son's mate & said, "Please don't think badly of me Chance... but when Jacob's mother & I were together, we were young & foolish. Neither of us thought that our night together would produce a kitten... but as you know it did. Both of our families had money but when she told her father she was pregnant, he father disowned her. Alexia's older sister Camille blamed me for everything & had a restraining order placed against me. The courts also ordered that I could never have anything to do with the kitten until the kitten was a legal adult. I had no idea what Alexia had done to our son until after Riza came home one day & told me all about this young Enforcer she met on a field trip to the Enforcer's Training Academy."

"How many years apart where they born? Jake's twenty five & Riza looks sixteen or so?" Chance asked.

"There is almost seven years difference. Riza will be twenty at the end of the year. And Jake's birthday is still several months away." Marco said, getting up. "Would you like something to drink? Milk?"

"Yeah thanks." Chance said as he digested everything Marco had told him so far.

Marco headed into the hall & said, "Riza came home from her field trip telling me all about this rust colored young tom she had met named Jake Clawson. She told him about the scars on his ears & tail... about the scratches on his face... about the tormented look in his eyes. Even when she was young Riza could see into kat's souls & by the time she & Jake met when she was 13... she wanted to help him. I called in a favor from an Enforcer friend to find out who this young tom was."

Chance looked up when something cold touched his shoulder & saw that Marco had returned. "And then you found out he was your son. And what she did to him." he said.

"I found out he was my son then yes. It wasn't until several months later that I found out what Alexia had done. Jake was upset with me because I wasn't there when he growing up. He blamed me for leaving him alone with his mother... blamed me for all the times she hurt, drugged & raped him." Marco admitted.

Chance stared with wide eyes at the older tom. That didn't sound like the Jake he knew & loved, not even the Jake he had first met.

"He's come a very long way since I met him. You've been good for him." Marco told him.

"Thanks..." Chance whispered, blushing. Luckily his thick coat covered it up.

Outside in the backyard Riza had calmed down considerably & now the siblings were allowing their father & Chance time to talk privately.

"I like your mate. Daddy does too." Riza said, watching the butterfly that had balanced itself on one of her claws.

"I didn't think Dad wouldn't like Chance. It was you I was worried about." Jake told her from where he was stretched out in the grass. His father had set up a gazebo to keep some of the yard dry when it rained & even though the storm had stopped, most of the yard was still soaking wet.

Riza laughed, which startled the butterfly & said, "I'm not heartless Jake. If he understands you & makes you happy, then I'm fine with him."

"What about you? Find a she-kat that's got your tail in a knot yet?" Jake teased as Riza pounced on him.

"Not yet." she giggled. She had never felt an ounce of sexual attraction to toms, instead preferring she-kats.

"You'll find some pretty she-kat." Jake smirked, catching one of her ears in his mouth playfully. With Riza he acted as if his kittenhood had not been stolen from him.

"Nah! Let go!" Riza squealed, flopping down & pawing at him gently. Even though they had not known each other until about seven years ago, they loved each other & acted as if Jake had known Riza from the time of her birth. Jake released her ear & hugged her tightly, purring loudly as he did.


End file.
